Access Blogs
Countdown To 'Idol'
Just five weeks and counting until "American Idol" returns in January on Fox. Last night, I felt like I was right back in the thick of things. Well, sort of. You see, I spent the evening at a taping of Fox's latest reality music competition show, "The Next Great American Band."
"Band" shares the same studio space (Stage 36) with "Idol," as it's produced by the exact same team of people from 19 Entertainment. The stage is, of course, different -- but many things feel the same. Same audience chairs, same stage manager, same warm up guy and I believe even the same judges chairs are used. The "Band" judges even use the same dressing rooms. Female judge, Sheila E, uses Simon Cowell's dressing room. Though last night I found out that Simon also has a trailer on the lot that doubles as his dressing room too…. just so he can smoke! Somebody get the man the patch please!!
Unfortunately, ratings for the show have been pretty slow, hovering just around 3 million viewers. My guess is that this is mostly due to the fact that the show has a less than prime slot on Friday nights when most people are out for the evening. Any other night I think the show might have had a fighting chance. It's a good show -- a show worth checking out. It's got something for every age group The bands range in age from young kids to 40-something adults, all covering different musical genres.
Still left in the competition are a country band from Nashville called "Sixwire," made up of guys in their 30s and 40s. A male trio (that I liken to the country version of the Jonas Brothers) called the "The Clark Brothers." A rock band made up of kids all under the age of 16 calling themselves "Light of Doom." A modern rock band called "Dot, Dot, Dot." And a 12-piece swing band called "Denver and the Mile High Orchestra."
This week they will whittle it down to the final four bands, all of whom are performing covers of Queen songs. If you are an "Idol" watcher, I encourage you to tune in for the last few weeks of the show. The difference between the way the "Idol" contestants and the "Band" contestants cover songs is miles apart. Obviously, as a band you get to play your own instruments (though it's been revealed that this season on "Idol" contestants will be allowed to play an instrument if they want or can).
Each band takes the cover song and truly "makes it their own" (as Randy "Dawg" Jackson would say) to fit with their style of music. It no longer sounds like bad karaoke (as Simon would say). The best part [and I think most interesting to hear] is when each group is given the opportunity to sing their own original song. This way, voters get to hear what type of music the bands would put on a record. So, you know what you are getting right from the get go.
The show is definitely worth a look, even if it's on Friday night. Set those DVR's for Fox at 8pm. If you want to catch up on the action, go to the show's official Web site to catch video of the bands performances at http://nextgreatband.msn.com/
Leave a comment